It might be a bit out of the box, but the Scarred Witch Doctor archetype for the Witch class could be turned into a pretty interested melee/close build. It's specifically an Orc-only archetype.
Does rogue compliment barbarian at all?
Not really. I'd go with Scarred Witch Doctor or Barbarian for an Orc.
ability scores all start at 15 can 1 for 1 up to 18
I'm not 100% sure I understand this. Does this mean that you can raise one ability score by 1 point by reducing another by 1 point? If so, that's rather overpowered and gives you a wealth of options.
Here's my suggestion:
18 strength (+4 racial)
18 dexterity
18 constitution
12 intelligence (-2 racial)
16 wisdom (-2 racial)
8 charisma (-2 racial)
Barbarian or Fighter would be great class choices here. You'll want to specialize in two-handed melee weapons. Given your high dexterity a reach weapon with combat reflexes would be awesome; you can make that even better by having a spellcaster use "enlarge person" on you to get natural reach. You'll want to get your hands on a composite longbow as a backup weapon. Normally you need to invest in feats to rock out with archery, but with stats like these you really don't need to.
If you're going fighter, you'll probably want Combat Reflexes and Power Attack as your feats of choice. If you're going barbarian, go with Combat Reflexes, and as your rage power you might ant to consider the beast totem. The ability to put away your weapons and start rocking out with claws is pretty nice, and in the long-run the ability to pounce on a charge is awesome.
Does rogue compliment barbarian at all?
2-4 levels of Rogue works well with almost anything. It gives you lots of extra skill points and the invaluable "evasion" ability, as well as a Rogue talent. The flipside is that this will slow and weaken your progression as a Barbarian so you'll have fewer and weaker rage powers. That's always the tradeoff with multi-classing, so think carefully before doing it.
With stats like that it doesn't matter what you play - draw a class randomly outta a hat - and it'll rock.
I like to multiclass barbarian/alchemist to stack mutagens on top of rage bonuses, but barbarian/oracle of war is pretty nice too. You could also perhaps try something weird like a monk(empty hand archtype) for some improvised weapon madness.
In a different system i played as "Un'gol Slam" an Orcish version of Uncle Sam...
He used a chainsaw and a minigun, you can probably get away with a Ripsaw Glaive.
Just go Barbarian and :D
How to build?
Well honestly Barbarian, go with an animal companion barb with a roc (Call it a bald eagle)
Soooo smexy
The scarred witch doctor is really good as it has everything work off of constitution instead of intelligence.
Something I saw mentioned elsewhere for an alchemist is the trap breaker archetype.
This alchemist can find and disarm traps like a rogue (starting level 2, including magical ones) and blow them up with his bombs (starting at 5th level). Good since you are starting at level 2.
Starting at 8th level the trap breaker can set land mines (2 bomb usess) and then for one bomb use at 10th level.
As far as being fun to play, I like the idea of an orc who could lay a battlefield with mines, especially in an all orc campaign. These abilities replace poison resistance and immunity, thus allowing the full range of discoveries to be used. Throw in a firearm and explosive missile and targeted bomb admixture (and a cognotagen...) and a character can do an absurd amount of damage. Couple explosive missile with a true strike extract and you practically have a battlefield cannon. Plus, with a high starting strength, the character can be pretty good in melee after taking the mutagen.
As far as straight melee characters, invulnerable rager is always cool. link
I think that I'm gonna go with a Scarred Witch Doctor and prestige into Dragon Disciple. I'M GONNA WRECK EVERY THING!!!!!!!!!!!!
you wil need a spontanious casting class to go DD and your BaB is gonna be too low to wreck any thing but your own dreams even if the GM let you go DD from a prepared caster like the Scarred witch doctor.
But the witch doctor is in my opinion a great class to focus on. You wont have Many skills but you can take punishment like a man.That said with the( very generous) stat system you guys use power will shift a bit to the MAD classes. You can have somthing like
Str 22
Dex 16
Con 18
Int 10
Wis 16
Cha 8
And a monk with stats like this will be in the game for real. Get dragon style and keep on boosting STR and nothing can stand against you. Also a druid with stats like that would be power incarnatet.
The default choice is of cause a Barbarian inv rager with beast totem because that is great. Start out with power attack and never look back.